Pages

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Orlando Theme Park ALERT! Memorial Day FLU Precautions Advised

If you are going to an Orlando area theme park over the Memorial day weekend it would be wise to take elevated Flu precautions. Both Disney World and Universal Studios draw large numbers of tourists from Brazil because of the high value of the Brazilian "Dollar", unfortunately there is a FLU outbreak in Brazil suspected to be H1N1 swine flu.

The Fort Rucker Flu we reported on earlier has a reported connection to Orlando, and there has been one reported positive test for H1N1 in that cluster. However, the authorities seem to be treating that as a false positive.

Unfortunately there are lots of unknowns with these current FLU outbreaks and we strongly suspect that MERS-CoV will get the ultimate blame. But in either case, the risk of developing symptoms which require hospitalization seems low, but if hospitalization is required, the risk of death is high.

Given the nearness of the holiday weekend, your best
inexpensive
protective action is to purchase a small bottle of (CHG) Chlorhexidine Gluconate (namebrand Hibiclens) from your local Walgreens store. It is a surgical soap that protects your hands for 6 hours after washing with it. (Washing with regular soap afterwards will remove the protection)

CHG is a surgical scrub which forms an invisible barrier on the skin and kills the influenza virus and corona (SARS) virus for multiple HOURS after washing with it.